Art ~ ‘Awakening of Spring’ @MichaelHeip
Waking Life: Waking Up
I’m called to reflect on a dream from when I first began this work. I was exploring my dreams through Robert Bosnak's Embodied Imagination with Etja Ruth. I can recall this dream as if I had it last night. It was frightening, at the time.
Dream: “My Two Dead Selves”
I enter a large bathroom through a small window. It is ominously quiet. There are two bathtubs, one with a curtain around it. I can sense the water moving. I walk towards the mirror over the sink, looking at myself. Then the curtain moves, I see them. In the bathtub to my left. There are two dead versions of me. I am deathly afraid, I run back to where I came in, trying to get away as quickly as possible. The girl in the front reaches out for me, trying to get me. I can’t get out.
When I went back into the dream and transited into the girls through Embodied Imagination, I found she was not trying to get me, she was calling for help but couldn’t use her voice and the other girl was unconscious asleep, numb. They were both aspects of myself wanting to be heard and set free.
Tapping into the subconscious is not always pleasant. There are things hidden deep in our psyche that take time to uncover and nurture into understanding. The dream may continually unfold as you dig deeper and may hold different meanings as you gain new perspective over time.
As I think about this dream now, seven years later, I realize this was a very powerful “wake up call” dream. There were parts of my soul calling to live, to be reborn. Death = rebirth. Asleep = unconscious. The girl was stuck in a lot of feeling water, in the bathtub, wanting to be cleansed and feelings of fear, being stuck. She was stuck in her fear of living, living a life of expression and creativity. Even though she was dying for it.
Transformation for me has been about discovery through a long and arduous process. I am finally getting it! And I am not afraid to listen or be heard anymore.
NOTE: Posts may only include part/s of the dream.
*BOLD TEXT = DREAM IMAGE
*italicized text = interpretation and/or what resonates for the dreamer